Should you do free work? – Trajan King

Should you do free work?

Bry and I discuss what to do when people ask for the  “friends and family” discount. In other words, should you do free work?

If you own a business, you’ll know what we’re talking about.  No matter what kind of business it is – photography, hair salons, film making, technology – when you’re the owner people will inevitably ask for a discount just because they know you.

Giving as a strategy

In a lot of cases, you may want to help out. It could be a neighbor, friend, family or the Girl Scouts. Before someone asks for a discount, take time now to think of your response and how it fits into your overall strategy.

Many well known businesses use a strategy of discounts and giving to add to their brand story. Some give goods, services or money to charity and have become well known for it.

In this episode, we discuss how to handle that and why giving discounts can be bad for your business. When friends or family ask you for free work, there are a few different responses you could use.  How you handle it will affect your pricing and positioning, so it’s important to be careful so you don’t devalue your service while trying to help out friends or family.

Do friends and family ask you for discounts?  We’d love to hear your stories.  Post them below.

Timestamps:

0:50 – My awesome Star Wars t-shirt

0:55 – Why people ask for free work

2:10 – Why we don’t believe in the friends and family discount

2:20 – How to react to the question and how it could hurt your business

3:45 – How it affects your pricing and positioning

4:15 – Getting people to NOT value your service

5:20 – Bry tells a heartwarming story about giving

7:15 – Incorporating giving into your business plan

8:00 – Value your time to increase your profit

Related: How to hire the best freelancers

Who is Trajan King?

CFO & former Wall Street analyst helping your reach financial independence.

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Trajan King

Hey hey. I'm Trajan. I'm a minimalist entrepreneur who loves exploring the world (42 countries), learning new things (7 languages) and trying to get better every day (working on my backsquat).

I write about entrepreneurship and building an optimized and happy life through systems, good habits and scientific research.

Join me and we'll discover how we can build businesses we can be proud of.